Chapter 4 #2
Dunnigan laughed. “Well, in this case I’m going to agree with your self-diagnosis. I think you’re concussion clear. Which makes you very lucky or very skilled at taking a punch. Glenn has fists of concrete. ”
Harper remained silent and avoided Luke’s gaze.
“Okay, let’s take a peek at those ribs.” She tugged the paper gown open to check Harper’s side. “Wow, that’s a mess. We’re definitely going to do an X-ray.”
Harper winced at the gentle probing around the bruising. Dr. Dunnigan pulled the gown open a little wider and Harper saw Luke’s jaw clench. Wordlessly, he shoved out of his chair to pace.
Ignoring him, Dr. Dunnigan moved on to Harper’s arm.
“Okay, Contusion Queen, let’s get a couple of pictures for the police report and a few X-rays, and you can be on your way. I’m going to grab the camera.”
Harper sighed and gingerly flopped back on the table.
The police report. A very loud part of her wanted to decline, but she thought of Gloria’s terrified face as that ham-fist had closed around the slim column of throat.
She’d do it. Besides, maybe if she got called to come back and testify, she could see Luke again.
Harper closed her eyes and tried to pretend she was on a beach somewhere wearing a floppy hat and bikini instead of crinkly paper.
“Harper.” Luke was standing next to her. He spoke softly, but his expression was hard. “Can I see?” He held the edge of the gown between his fingers.
She nodded. Why the hell not? This was as close to getting naked with him as she was going to get.
He draped the material over her, careful to keep her front covered.
“Baby.” He trailed his fingers over the side of her rib cage around to just under her breast.
Harper felt her heart rate kick up several notches. An awake Luke touching her was even hotter than being groped by the asleep one.
He gently splayed his warm palm over the bruising, the tips of his fingers just brushing the curve of her breast.
Harper looked into his eyes and wondered how she could see both simmering anger and tenderness in them.
“All right,” Dr. Dunnigan said, pushing the door open. “Let’s get this show on the road. Luke, can you help Harper up? We’ll take these standing against the wall.
Luke’s hands closed around her arms and eased her into a sitting position. Harper gritted her teeth as hard as she could to avoid wincing.
She held his forearms to steady herself as she stepped down onto the hardwood floor. When she craned her neck back to look at him, she saw a war of emotions tangle in his gaze. He brushed his knuckles gently across her cheek. “It won’t happen again.” The whispered promise was threaded with steel.
He stepped back and let the doctor take several shots of Harper’s ribs, arm, and face.
“Okay, that should be plenty. Let’s get a couple of X-rays down the hall,” Dunnigan said, putting the camera on the desk.
Luke held the back of Harper’s gown together for her as they made their way to the room. She tried to imagine a hundred different scenarios where his hand would be skimming the bare skin on her back that didn’t involve treating her like an elderly invalid.
Sometimes life just sucked.
What if she had rolled into town in a cute sundress and her damn wallet? She could have bought him a drink instead of requiring saving and charity. If this wasn’t a wake-up call about how it was time to start behaving like an adult, she didn’t know what was.
Dunnigan led them to a small, windowless room and had her lie down on the table. She adjusted the position of the camera over Harper’s ribs and draped a heavy lead cover over her.
“Just hold still right there, and this will be over in a minute.” The doctor had Luke step back with her behind the protective curtain, and Harper heard the whir of the camera .
Dr. Dunnigan rearranged her and took a few more shots of the ribs and one of her arm before letting her sit up again.
She brought a laptop over to Harper. “Okay. Let’s check these out.”
Luke joined them, leaning against the table. His arm rested against Harper’s.
Dunnigan zoomed in on an image. “Hmm.”
“What does ‘hmm’ mean?” Luke demanded.
“This spot right here,” she tapped the screen, “is a healed fracture. So, either you have superhuman healing powers or you broke your ribs before.”
“I think I had a fracture there years ago,” Harper said, crossing her arms over her chest. It was embarrassing reliving her medical history with two virtual strangers.
Dr. Dunnigan looked at Harper over her reading glasses and waited. “Hmm.”
Harper ignored her. She could feel Luke’s gaze weigh heavily on her. She squinted at the screen. “No new fractures?” she asked cheerfully.
Dunnigan flipped through the series of images. “It looks like you’re in the clear. This time.”
“Told you,” Harper smirked at Luke.
“You’re awfully cocky for someone covered head to toe in bruises,” he reminded her.
“Same story with your arm,” Dr. Dunnigan said tapping the screen. “Old break. This one looks like it healed better than your rib.” She looked pointedly at Harper.
Harper shrugged and didn’t respond. Time had healed those physical hurts a long time ago and, with them, the mental ones as well.
“Any new ones?”
“Nope.” The doctor swiveled on her stool and put the laptop back on the counter. “A little swollen, a lot of bruising. But overall not nearly as bad as it could have been. I’ll write you a script for some pain meds to help you sleep, and I’m telling you that rest is the best medicine.”